I should preface this with: I have not seen the entire Office series. I am just someone who likes psychology and has spent several weeks watching clips of The Office on YouTube and researching it on Dunderpedia (yes, that is a real website), because a friend of mine likes the show and I needed conversation fodder. In that time watching out-of-context clips of the show, I have noticed that the show has several romantic subplots that seem to drive various characters, the most notable of which being Dwight and Angela’s, as they have one of the most chaotic, messed up relationships I have ever seen. While it isn’t as bad in terms of watchability as Twilight or Divergent (at least the Dwight x Angela ship leads to some funny clips), it is in many ways worse.
Should I wait to get the entire series on DVD or streaming before I write this? Probably. But when has that ever stopped me from giving my take on things? So here’s why Dwight Schrute and Angela Martin are the best/worst couple in The Office….
First of all, I would just like to say that one reason why the Dwight/Angela ship works somewhat is because none – literally none – of the characters in/out of the relationship are perfect. They all act like humans. While you have characters who are certainly better or worse than others, each has their own very apparent flaws that render them a shade of moral gray. These flaws are written in such a way that audience can relate to somewhat depending on age, sex, experience, etc. Dwight’s flaws in the relationship could be relatable to one person, while Angela’s could be relatable to another person. While they both do horrible things to each other, they also do things that are good for the growth of the other person. This makes their relationship work to an extent, especially as we see each character grow and undergo various (sort-of) redemption arcs.
However, with that said, there is a glaring red-flag in the relationship in question that renders it – in my opinion – unviable if it was a real-life relationship. From a psychological and moral standpoint, I have a hard time figuring out if Dwight and Angela’s attraction to each other is a form of true love or lust. While this could be from a lack of understanding about the show (having not watched the entire thing), though there are scenes where sometimes the two characters will seemingly love each other (exhibiting compassionate love which – when combined with doses of passionate and companionate love – forms the basis for a stable, healthy relationship as it puts the needs of your partner above self and breeds loyalty), there’s others where it’s obvious that one of them is a simp who – for whatever reason/motivation – is allowing themselves to be dragged along by the other who is clearly using them for selfish reasons. The simp almost always seems to be consumed with passionate love (which in psychology can be defined as that fluttery, super-infatuated, “I-must-be-with-you-always” phase of a relationship that will either die out and end things or grow into compassionate/companionate love) that comes and goes quickly and leads them into some funny, but bad situations.
For example, while there are several scenes where it seems like Dwight truly loves Angela (I say seems because most of them may/may not be out of a sense of duty or purely spur-of-the-moment type things), it’s because of the overwhelming passionate love that turns into pure lust that lands him in many situations that – while funny for the show – would be devastating in real life. We see this throughout the show as he constantly chases Angela, being fine with keeping the relationship a secret from the public (which can lead to things becoming very toxic for obvious reasons), continuing to sleep with her even when she’s dating someone else, entering into a child-bearing contract with her (that she initiated) which leads to her getting pregnant a month before getting married to the senator, etc.
If this was a real relationship, it would make at least five different lawyers very happy with how much money they would be raking in. If this was how you base your dating relationship, don’t be surprised when the other person divorces you.
Then there’s Angela. While Dwight is toxic in his own way, being willing to commit immoral acts and not draw any boundaries for the sake of having Angela as his own, Angela is the main person leading him into doing those things. She was the one who is constantly receptive one minute to being in the relationship, then breaks it off to be with someone else, then tries to rekindle it like nothing happened. In the episode, “The Duel”, Dwight and Andy (the guy Angela started revenge dating and got engaged to because Dwight killed her cat) both realize that Angela is a hoe as she has been sleeping with both of them behind the scenes and while Andy cancels the wedding, Dwight only temporarily breaks up with her, later getting back together for the child-bearing contract that – as I mentioned before – was initiated by Angela.
If you thought this was over, just hang on a minute. It gets worse.
This type of behavior doesn’t just stop in Angela’s dating life. Even when she’s married to the senator (before she finds out about the affair he’s having with her co-worker, Oscar) she still seems fine with making-out with Dwight while waiting for her son’s paternity test to come back (a plot-point of the show that I could dedicate an entire blog post on because it’s so confusing and insane). After she divorces the senator and becomes a single mother trying to raise her (and Dwight’s) son, Philip, she lies about the paternity test, denying Dwight the truth that he is a father. The truth about Dwight’s fatherhood and the reason behind the lying is revealed in the penultimate episode where Angela tells him that she lied about Phillip because she wanted Dwight to marry her for her.
Guys reading this: would you marry someone like that?
She lied to Dwight, who had made it very clear that he wanted to raise his son, to test him to see if he truly loved her for her or if he only loved her for the child. If a girl does that, that is a sign that she is incredibly immature, and you need to get the heck out. A steady relationship can only be built on mutual trust and loyalty, which only comes by being honest and vulnerable with each other. If you aren’t honest from the get-go and think that you must constantly test your partner by lying to them, you are creating a breeding ground for resentment which will inevitably lead to infidelity and abuse.
On top of that, for the girls reading this, if your man is willing to let you walk over him even to the point where all moral thought flies out the window, that’s a sign you need to leave that relationship. If he doesn’t have enough integrity to say “No” once in a while, what makes you think that he’ll be a good leader, much less a faithful partner? Moreover, if he just does whatever you want and you don’t do anything to try to help him, that’s not love. That’s you being a controlling cow in your relationship and – just like with testing your man to see if he truly loves you – will breed resentment and lead to a messy breakup.
And that’s why Dwight Schrute and Angela Martin are the worst ship in The Office.
Until next time,
M.J.
The Tanuki Corner 
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